17.00 USD
Sarah Bernhardt in Crown and Lalique Tiara, by Reutlinger, circa 1900
Breathtaking portrait by Leopold Reutlinger, of French actress of stage and screen, Sarah Bernhardt. We believe this to be one of a series done by Reutlinger in 1895.
Once known as the “First Lady of the Stage” and the “Divine Sarah,” Bernhardt is probably better known today for the marvelous poster images of her produced by those masters of Belle Époque advertising art, such as Alphonse Mucha.
In this image, the Divine Sarah is in costume as Melisande in "La Princesse Lointaine," ("The Princess Far Away"), a play written by Edmond Rostand. The play was produced in 1895 and performed at the Sarah Bernhardt Theatre in Paris. Although Sarah appears to be wearing a single headpiece in the photograph, we believe this to be two separate pieces which work together, a large crown at the center of a more delicate tiara of pearl-encrusted flowers.
**Note** One of our wonderful customers let us know that these Art Nouveau flowers worn by Mme. Bernhardt, were actually designed by Alphonse Mucha! Searching the internet for more information, we learned that the tiara was apparently a separate piece from the crown, and had been made by René Lalique, apparently working to Mucha's design. We are not often able to see the actual accoutrements worn by the subjects of our images, but in this case, we have found a modern photograph of the tiara, credited on Pinterest as being from the Musée et Bibliothèque de l’Opera Paris, although we have not been able to find the original source of the image on that site. The image of the tiara, of course, is not for sale; we are selling only the Reutlinger postcard!
Thanks to all those who write in with help and information. You not only make the existence of Red Poulaine possible with your purchases, but your willingness to share your knowledge and experience helps to make Red Poulaine, our own revolving museum exhibit of small, popular art, much more entertaining and informative!
For those of you who would like more information, there is a detailed and fascinating biographical article about Sarah Bernhardt in the Jewish Women’s Archive at:
http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/bernhardt-sarah
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A stunning and dramatic card, with minor wear to edges and corners, and some silvering which is very much to our taste. There is a handwritten message along the right edge of the face. Please examine our high res scans for detail.
Postage is for first class shipping in a secure photo mailer, and we happily combine shipping on all paper goods. If you purchase two cards, the price is the same as for a single card, and when you purchase three or more cards from us at the same time, your shipping will be entirely free, except for international orders which, due to the costs of international shipping will still be charged one card's shipping fees on orders of three or more. We do not charge for insurance or shipping materials, and as of the date of this listing are still charging below our overall cost on shipping.
And please come visit our blog at:
redpoulaine.blogspot.com
where we post biographical and historical tidbits, images of cards and photographs for sale, some already sold but remembered fondly, related images of historical interest and sometimes even images of items that have not yet arrived in the shop, but that are expected to arrive soon, as well as coupon codes, links to other related sites, and more!